Suggested Titles for the President

Today, we take "President of the United States" for granted. When the position was fresh, before the White House (another name we take for granted!) was even completed, when Washington was beginning to set his precedents, there was great debate over a proper title for the head of the United States of America.

John Adams, then Vice President, was a fan of more royalistic and fancy titles. "His Majesty the President" or "His High Mightiness" were two possibilities coming from him.

At this point, I want you all to imagine referring to "His High Mightiness George W. Bush."

You now appreciate this title not taking root.

There was also suggestion of "His Elective Majesty." While this title has that democratic ring to it, I want to know who exactly came up with this one and what drug they were on. That sounds like a horrible title. It's not my bias against calling the president Majesty in any form, it's just that title has no flow at all.

Now, the best suggestion of the time was "His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of the Rights of the Same."

I find the use of "of the Same" to be rather tacky, and think perhaps "His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of the Rights of the United States of America" would have been a more elegant suggestion.

Despite all this lively debate about a simple title, we know today that "President of the United States" won the debate. Why? All of this took place in the Senate. The House of Representatives quickly decided to use this title, and the Senate eventually decided to just agree with them.

While John Adams was arguably the main catalyst for this debate, the Vice President had no such debate over titles. Benjamin Franklin suggested "His Superfluous Excellency."

While he was being sarcastic, we should adopt this title ASAP.

President of the United States Barack Obama and His Superfluous Excellency Joe Biden!